# Plugged cigars



## Steve C. (Jun 16, 2015)

I received some MC #5's on 1-4-17, and have been resting them at 61-63% ever since, with the exception of a couple I held out to try. Both of the samples have been badly plugged or tight rolled to the point of very nearly being unsmokeable. I had to drill out the one I smoked today with a 1/8" drill bit to be able to smoke it at all. Any suggestions? It seems that the tight roll has been common on a few of my CC's.


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## ADRUNKK (Aug 16, 2016)

It seems to be a common theme amongst the cc world. Get yourself a Modus tool, or keep that drill bit handy.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

X's 2 on the modus..it pays for itself ,especially when it comes to the ISOM


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

UBC03 said:


> X's 2 on the modus..it pays for itself ,especially when it comes to the ISOM


:tpd: All joking aside Dino's right well worth the money!

Contact Jack @curmudgeonista he's a great guy.
They just came out with a newer design that's even better.
:vs_cool:


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## Joe Sticks (May 31, 2016)

I've got both Modus models. The first one has a little more gentle design, the Modus II is for when even that won't work. These have saved quite a few cigars. 

If neither of those will work (this hasn't happened for me yet), I'd just cut up the cigar and smoke it in a cob pipe.

Waste not, want not.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


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## avitti (Jun 4, 2011)

Most 'plugged' cigars are really just still over humidified from the vendor and 2 months at 61-63 rh may not be sufficient time for the binder and filler to dry out to your target rh. Trying to dry box these cigars for 4 or 5 days will only dry out the wrapper and give you an uneven burn and a bad tasting cigar. Patience is needed giving the cigars ample time for the whole cigar to reach your desired rh level. I have friends who put 'wet' cigars in the freezer for 5-6 hours,the cold in the freezer will dry out these cigars faster than dry boxing. Myself i would rather just wait the extra weeks for the cigar to stabilize.

I do have Jack's Modus tool and i only like to use it as a last resort for true plugged cigars and it also comes in handy for smoking on very humid days but that another topic and for another thread


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## woodted (Jan 3, 2009)

I have some Monte #5s that are 6 years old and are still as tight as a mosquito's ass stretched over a rain barrel!


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## avitti (Jun 4, 2011)

woodted said:


> I have some Monte #5s that are 6 years old and are still as tight as a mosquito's ass stretched over a rain barrel!


Odd that a whole box of cigars are problematic but it does happen,i had a box of montecarlos that were tighter than a duck's a$$ in water but after 6 months at 60-61 rh they opened up a bit and were approachable. another tidbit if you bought those cigars from a vendors 'vintage or aged section' (which is really neither) they sat at a very high rh for years and if you store your Havanas at or over 65rh they may still smoke like sucking a milkshake through a straw. Some cigars are plugged-some have been tightly rolled---most times its storage conditions that lead to hard to smoke cigars


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## Steve C. (Jun 16, 2015)

The MC5 are hard and solid, and even drilling didn't open it up a lot. I've notified the vendor, we'll see what happens. 


Maybe it is still a bit wet, but being so small I thought it would dry out fairly fast and easy.


I really suspect it's over filled though.


I checked out the Modus per your recs. Is the MII an improvement over the original design, or just for a bit different scenario?


Thanks for all the responses.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Steve C. said:


> The MC5 are hard and solid, and even drilling didn't open it up a lot. I've notified the vendor, we'll see what happens.
> 
> Maybe it is still a bit wet, but being so small I thought it would dry out fairly fast and easy.
> 
> ...


I like the two. It's a beast. I have both , the two is more aggressive but still haven't split any of my 38rg smoked. Just need to go a little slower at it than with the bigger rg.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

avitti said:


> Most 'plugged' cigars are really just still over humidified from the vendor and 2 months at 61-63 rh may not be sufficient time for the binder and filler to dry out to your target rh. Trying to dry box these cigars for 4 or 5 days will only dry out the wrapper and give you an uneven burn and a bad tasting cigar. Patience is needed giving the cigars ample time for the whole cigar to reach your desired rh level. I have friends who put 'wet' cigars in the freezer for 5-6 hours,the cold in the freezer will dry out these cigars faster than dry boxing. Myself i would rather just wait the extra weeks for the cigar to stabilize.
> 
> I do have Jack's Modus tool and i only like to use it as a last resort for true plugged cigars and it also comes in handy for smoking on very humid days but that another topic and for another thread


Thank you....I've long preached this message along with others on here for "resting" cigars after they reach your humidor. Another thread talks about B&M's keeping their RH at higher numbers as well. This causes issues with our cigars because we want our cigars to be at the RH we like and that is going to take time.

One can take a cigar from a Vendor and put it in their humidor for 3 weeks but I can promise you that if the Vendor kept it at 70% and you think in a week it's going to go down to 65% ( if that is what you hygro is telling you ) then you're kidding yourself. The cigar itself "might" have areas that are between 65 and 70 ...but the whole stick...nope! This is why areas of the cigar tend to smoke differently and thus the complaints start up. Dryboxing does not "fix' the problem...it just causes the cigar to have the same issues and it doesn't get to the core of the cigar to bring it down to the RH you want. More than likely the ends will be in the lower RH while the center is still going to be higher in RH because one or 2 days are not going to lower the RH inside the wrapper as much as one thinks. Since there isn't a tool that I know of that will let you skewer the inside of a cigar to get an accurate RH reading one has to use experience and necessary inference to get the answer. The answers I get are from experienced smokers who have a keen sense of taste and awareness that gives them those answers. Most answers to cigar issues are that one should keep their cigars at a RH that works for them and keep them in that environment for a few months and that will give you the quality you want.


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